The Nationals have won 3 of their last 13 games, and possess the second worst record in the National League. The team is currently batting .235, have an OBP of .310, are slugging .357, and have an OPS of .667. They also have 229 total RBIs and 781 total bases. What is amazing about all of these statistics is that the Nationals trail all other NL teams in each of them. In fact, these numbers......

The Nats are 3-3 in the last week. They even managed to score 25 runs in those 6 games, up from the 17 that they scored in the previous 7 games. They are still only batting .218 as a team with a .267 OBP in the last 7 days, putting them second to last in the National League during that period. Overall, the team is last in the National League with a .234 batting average,......

In the last week the Nats have gone 4-2. They've won 7 of their last 10 games, and earned a better record, 14-19, than four teams in the National League. Austin Kearns looks like he has decided to earn his $5 million salary, batting .318 over the last week and adding a home run in last night's game. Even Rob Mackowiak has turned it around, batting .429 in the last seven games. Soon he may......

Bonjour! This Nats update is coming to you straight from Paris -- that is the level of our devotion to this team. How has the team repaid us? Well, they've gone 7-3 over their last 10 games, own a better record than 6 teams in baseball, and have all but guaranteed that they will not finish last in the NL East. They are currently 6 wins away from tying last year's record, a feat that......

Since we last left the Nationals, the team has gone 4-3 and pulled itself out of last place in the NL East. They are one win away from 63, and thus avoiding the humiliation of triple digit loses this year. They are also nine wins from tying last year's total. These are the metrics we have to use to judge a team that wasn't really competing for the post-season anyway (during the pre-season, Vegas......

If the DCist Flickr pool is a good indication, many of you decided to spend part of your Labor Day weekend the good ol' fashioned American way -- at the ballpark. Flickr user Scott Ableman perfectly caught Ryan Zimmerman's game winning RBI against the Giants on Sunday night, in a nail biting moment with the count full in the bottom of the ninth. The Nationals inched out for a final score of 2-1.......

The Nationals have left their fans in quite a quandary this year. What criteria do you use to judge this team? One perspective says that this team has already exceeded expectations and found some quality pitchers in their system, so the season is a success. And yet, this team is currently the fourth worst team in baseball and has lost 10 of their last 14 games, and are in the midst of a 4-game losing......

Damn Barry Bonds. Damn Cream’n’Clear takin’, media-manipulatin’, fan-hatin’ Barry Bonds. With apologies to sister site SFist, who has stepped up their excitement in anticipation of Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record, my recognition of his record-breaking achievement has gone from tepid acknowledgement to thinly-veiled animosity. It was bad enough that the Nats best baseball of the year – two straight series sweeps and a six-game win streak – was overshadowed this weekend by Balco......

On Sunday, with their 7-2 win over the Brewers, the Nats reached the All Star break and the season’s traditional halfway point. With the team on a not-quite-as-bad-as-expected 66-win pace, those of us who write about them are stuck somewhere between the building euphoria in Boston and the pitchfork and torches crowd in Cincinnati. One of the beautiful things about baseball, though, is that the long season generates plenty of moments, both incredible and pathetic,......

Prompted by the opening of online balloting for the 2007 All Star Game a few weeks ago, we recently started wondering who might represent the Nats in San Francisco (since, you know, somebody has to). Dmitri Young? The guy's hitting for a scorching .500 average over the last 21 games. But he's mired behind popular stars like Albert Pujols and Nomar Garciaparra, as well as reigning MVP Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder's 23-homer bat. Even......

As we mentioned on Wednesday, this year's MLB Amateur Player Draft has shaped up to be extremely significant for the Nats. For the first time, the club could put its full organizational muster toward its primary stated goal to rebuild the system with young talent, starting with the draft. Better and more thorough scouting, stockpiled picks and an open wallet promised a draft unlike the Nats/Expos franchise had seen for some time. Brian Oliver, also......

For a struggling offensive team like the Nationals, there's no greater place to play a few games than the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. And lately for the Nats, there's no greater foil than whiny Wayne Krivsky's Reds. For those reasons, I had quite the time watching the Nats pound the stuffing out of the Reds in last night's 12-7 win. The club's long-slumbering lumber has finally awoken--aided by Cincy's teensy bandbox of a field.......

If we told you that Orioles starting pitcher Erik Bedard struck out 12 Nationals batters in a thoroughly dominating performance on Sunday, you’d have expected the O’s to cruise to their third win in a sweep of their Beltway rivals. Likewise, if we told you that both Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns homered and the Nats opened with a 6-0 lead on the road in Cincinnati last night, you’d have expected a first road win......

We were rubbing our eyes last Sunday as we watched the Nationals sweep the Florida Marlins to win their first series of the year. Then they took 3 of 4 from the Braves and knocked them out of first place in the NL East, and now we’re asking ourselves, “Who the hell are these guys?” With only two of their regular starters hitting over .250 and none of them within shouting distance of .300, they......

With apologies to a certain antacid maker, this is how the Nats spell relief: S-E-R-I-E-S-S-W-E-E-P. Coming on the heels of an agonizing road trip and an eight-game losing streak, there was no better cure for the ailing Nats than coming home to RFK to face the streaky Marlins. By the end of the weekend, the Nats had picked up the three game sweep (which was actually their first series win of the year), as well......

The talk about the Nationals being the worst team in major league history seems to have been slightly exaggerated. That being said, they've been pretty awful in losing 5 in a row, including being swept by the Cubs this weekend. The Nats are 9-22, 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East and 5.5 behind the fourth place Phillies. And they face the surprising Brewers, who have the best record in baseball,......

Put the champagne on ice, kids. The Nats, at 4-9, are threatening to climb out of last place for the first time since last June, ahead of struggling Philadelphia. Both teams are 4.5 games back, but the Nats have one more win thus far. Try washing down your $90 million payroll with that, Phils fans! After a dreadful first turn through the rotation, the Nats starters have rebounded with some impressive performances as of late.......

Maybe it was the indignity of the Marlins spoiling the last Opening Game ever in RFK. Maybe it was the insufferable Aramark concessionaires, who insist that it's perfectly acceptable to run out of buns in the fifth inning of the first damn game. Maybe it's the humiliation of the long winless streak to the other presidents. There's no telling. Something, though, was terribly amiss in that giant head of Teddy Roosevelt's during the Nat's 9-2......

[Editor's Note: With the Nationals readying to begin their third season in D.C., change is constant and questions abound. Last week, we took a look at this year's lineup in our Season Preview. Today, we discuss this year’s most pressing questions with some of the Nats' best bloggers: Chris from Capitol Punishment, Basil from Federal Baseball, and Brian from Nationals Farm Authority.] DCist: Since the Lerner/Kasten team took over the team, every move is justified......

[Editor's Note: With the Nationals readying to begin their third season in D.C., change is constant and questions abound. Today, like last year, we take a look at the 2007 roster and all the new contributors. Next week, we’ll discuss this year’s most pressing questions with some of the Nats' best bloggers.] With the Nats preparing to head north from spring training in Viera for their third season on the Anacostia, it’s time to take......

Now Ryan Zimmerman knows how George Allen feels. It was as close as they come, but when they counted the votes for NL Rookie of the Year, Zim narrowly lost to Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez. DCist Matt saw it coming as the year wound down, posting about Ramirez in September: "If anybody's going to beat out our boy Zim, we think it's going to be this guy." It's easy to make a convincing case for......

>> D.C. Board of Education Vice President Carolyn Graham enjoys making cartoon dress-up dolls on the Internet while at work. But really guys, who doesn't? [Yeas and Nays] >> The bloggers at Free Darko join Deadspin in talking about our very own Agent Zero. "More bottomless riddle than one-note lightweight," indeed. [Deadspin] >> After being profiled in the illustrious New York Times, the Capital Club decides it's not so illustrious after all. [Wonkette] >> Mayor-to-be......

While the playoffs kick into high gear this week, the rest of the league is left wondering about what might have been this year, and what could be next year. Fans in Washington might be tempted to view 2006 as a lost season. The team struggled to 71 wins, 10 fewer than the last place ’05 squad, contributing to the team’s decision to dump Frank Robinson. Truth be told, Frank didn’t have much of a......

Ryan Zimmerman just keeps on hitting. In baseball's marathon of a season, the Nationals third baseman has saved his best for last, raking the ball all over the field and providing highlight reel defense. Though Zimmerman has had a strong year overall, he has really come into his own in the last month, hitting doubles at an incredible rate and driving in droves of baserunners. It should come as no suprise that his outstanding......

The Nationals had an exciting game last night, tying the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth and again in the tenth, then falling just short in the 14th. However, you wouldn't know it from the Nats fans. We wrote about fairweather fans before, but this game was just sad - for one, a lot of people hit the exits as the 9th inning ended. So the Nats aren't in the playoff hunt and the......

We've been warned: Building a winning franchise from the ground up takes patience. Getting better means taking your medicine, and the Nationals have been gulping it down lately. This week the Marlins crammed a few spoonfuls of bitter syrup down the Nats’ throats, sweeping three pathetic contests that were bad even for August baseball. The Nats have now lost five straight and are a season-low 19 games below .500. Hopes of finishing the season somewhere......

A new era begins this weekend at RFK, as the Lerner family ceremonially takes the reins of the team, the front office, stadium operations, and all things Natty. While visions of future pennants and new stadiums dance in our heads, we fans confront the current reality of a team that’s 17 games out in July and mired in last place. We know that things are likely to get much worse before they get better, as......

With the first half of the 2006 season in the books, it’s time to reach deep into the bag of sportswriting gimmickry and pull out some mid-season hardware for our own amusement. With the team on pace to lose 95 games, many sad moments have defined the season thus far, but there are a few bright spots in there. So without further ado, DCist proudly presents the Superfluous All-Star Break Awards of 2006: The FEMA......

With Mother Nature tossing lightning and thunder, space shuttle Discovery shooting across the Florida sky, and the pyrotechnics on the National Mall, the Nats' little matinee date with the Marlins was easy to overlook yesterday. Only 23,000 showed up for the game between NL East also-rans played under threatening skies. But rookie RBI machine Ryan Zimmerman would have none of it. He launched some fireworks of his own with a walk-off homer in the bottom......

After getting thrashed at home by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the tune of 11-1, the Nationals experienced something of a wake-up call. The Nats might have looked around and found out that they were in the basement of one of the worst divisions in baseball. They might have done some research and found out that Friday night's beat-down was at the hands of franchise whose entire existence has been marred by futility......